Cabinet endorses by-laws governing new ministries

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed two by-laws pertaining to the ministries of local administration and digital economy and entrepreneurship.

The first of the two by-laws will transfer the responsibilities and jurisdictions of the minister of municipal affairs to the minister of local administration for the remainder of this year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The second will delegate to the minister of digital economy and entrepreneurship the responsibilities and jurisdictions of the ICT minister for 2019.

Both by-laws were founded in implementation of a Royal Decree to appoint a digital economy and entrepreneurship minister as well as a minister of local administration, in addition to appointing ministers to handle the responsibilities and jurisdictions that previously belonged to the ICT and municipal affairs ministers.

The Cabinet also endorsed the 2019 administrative organisation by-law for both the local administration ministry and the ministry of digital economy and entrepreneurship.

This by-law seeks to define and organise the duties and jurisdictions of the new ministries, in addition to identifying the connections and modes of communication between their respective departments.

Under another decision, the Cabinet will be allocating all governmental monetary support to students, previously divided between scholarships and loans, solely into scholarships awarded in accordance with academic achievement.

Recipients of these scholarships will not have to repay them, the statement said.

A portion of the scholarship allocations will be set aside for National Aid Fund beneficiaries, according to Petra.

The Cabinet will postpone loan payments for those covered by the Student Support Fund, around 50,000 students, until they find employment and without a time limit on how long they have to do so.

The aforementioned decision will only cover students who have not graduated; those who have already begun paying their loans must continue to do so in accordance with the law.

The Cabinet bequeathed the minister of higher education and scientific research with the responsibility of completing the studies pertaining to the establishment of a facilitated loans system with reasonable payment schedules that covers students pursuing bachelor’s degrees and diplomas.

The Cabinet approved the recommendations of the committee formed to handle the issues that arose after the implementation of the decision that allowed Gazans to own real estate for the purpose of residence, according to Petra.

It also approved the national youth strategy 2019-2025, which was put in place as a response to the large-scale economic, political and cultural changes that affect the youth.